As most of ye know we are putting together the Abandoned Comics website and I have been thinking about hosting a webcomic on it. So I’m putting out the call now. If there is any creators out there that want to do this here is the email address blackstarcomic@gmail.com.

Just an update on how things are progressing. It’s starting to get hectic here. I have been searching around for printers this week for the Wire and Gas comic which is nearly ready. I’ve also just got the domain name for the website which I hope will be up by the end of next month. We will be also be at the 2D Festival at the Verbal Arts Centre in Derry in June. Had a great time last year and I’m really looking forward to go back.

I’ve been working away over Christmas on getting another comic wrapped up too. I’m working with an American creator Alfred Paige on his Big Dog Ink book PinPoint. PinPoint will be a five issue comic and tells the story of Captain James Washington a sharp shooter that gets caught up in a massive attack on American soil. This will be my first attempt at trying to do an action comic and I must say it has been an interesting challenge. It’s still early days on the project but I will keep ye all up to date on it as the project develops. If ye want to keep up to date with the book as it develops ye can check out the PinPoint Facebook page.

I got invited to Epic Con this week. Epic Con is held in NUI Maynooth from the 18th of February to the 20th of February. I’m going to do my best to make it to the event.

One final thing, once I’ve finished writing PinPoint I’m going to start writing the next comic for AC which is a Sci/Fi Horror comic called Salvage. Salvage is based on a story my Martin Greene and he is working on the outline for the book at the minute.

So here it is Ger Hankey’s brilliant cover for BlackStar Book One. It will be a 38 page colour comic featuring art by Dwayne Moloney and Trystan Mitchell. Hopefully this will be all put together over the Summer and we will release it in September. BlackStar is a story that I have been itching to tell since way back before the zero issue of Ri Ra and it’s great to see it happening.

The Eagle Awards long list is up now and myself and Ri Ra Issue Three are on there. Just want to say a huge thanks to everyone that voted for me and Ri Ra. There has been a great turn out by Irish creators on the list. I think it shows how strong Irish comics have become over the past few years and it’s great to be included in such a talented bunch of folk.

If anyone wants to vote for me for Newcomer Writer and Ri Ra for European Comic the link for that is here.

So here is the line art for the Black Star comic coming out from Coimici Gael at the end of the Summer. This will be Coimici Gael’s first English language comic. The artist behind this cover is Ger Hankey of Sketch Paddy’s fame.

O k, one more blog post before the year ends. A few weeks back I asked Trystan Mitchell to draw a new strip for the Black Star comic coming out next year. The story is a six page story set years before the main comic. This comic is shaping up well. Ger Hankey is going to be doing the cover and between Dwayne Moloney’s art and Trystan’s work it is going to look great.

This will probably be my last post before the Christmas so I thought I’d end finish up with some panels from Nestor Issue One. Paul McCallan has finished up inking the first issue so we are a step closer to getting the comic out there. I think ye will agree he has done an excellent job.

Ri Ra Issue Three is out now folks. I have been very lucky to be involved in Ri Ra since the zero Issue. Aidan has done an excellent job in getting some of the best Irish comic creators working today in this book. There is some serious talent in the pages of this comic, check out the Coimici Gael website and pick up a copy today.

2012 is going to be a busy year for us with the two comics coming out but plans are afoot for the next comic after Nestor. Martin is working away on the outline for a new book called The Salvaged. It will be a science fiction/horror story and we will be working away on that next year. Hopefully it will be out in 2013. So that’s it, my last post of 2011. All that’s left to say is a huge thank you to everyone that has supported our work this year.

So folks I have just got my hands on the pdf version of Ri Ra Issue Three and I may be a bit biased but it looks great. Once again Aidan Courtney has managed to gather some of the best Irish comic creators working today and put them into this book. So the line up this time round goes like this. We have Bob Byrne, Maeve Clancy, Alan Nolan, Aidan Courtney, Alma Ryan and a few new contributors Luke Fallon, Agata Romanska and Dwayne Moloney. The book is heading off to the printers over the next few days and will be available in hard copy or as a digital download next week.

I have just got the finished cover for Nestor Issue Two and I thought I better post it up here for people to check out. The titles for the book have been done by Emily Kenny. She is also responsible for that shiny new logo on the side of the blog too. The cover art was done by the very talented Robert Elrod. Robert is an excellent artist from Colorado and his website is worth a look.

It’s been a hectic few weeks. The work continues on Nestor and we are in the midst of planning a new Abandoned Comics website. I do have some very good news regarding the Wire and Gas Anthology. The excellent Mr Joe Campbell has a great World War One strip called Distant Fields that will now feature in the Wire and Gas book. It is an eleven page full color strip. So that brings the total number of stories in the book to five including the Joe’s beautifully drawn Nestor prequel story Ripper.

The other bit of news I can share is that Myself and Aidan Courtney are busy working away on the next book after Nestor. The working title so far is Black Stone and the first issue of this four issue comic will be drawn by Joe Campbell. It is still in the early stages, we have a very rough draft of the first issue complete so it will be a while yet before there is any more news about it.

So I’ll leave you with a few panels from Joe’s strip Distant Fields. Be on the look out for the book when it comes out in early 2012.